The Loving Seasons

Rating:
Summary: An excellent romance, in the old style...
Review: This book was originally published under the author's other name Elizabeth Neff Walker, and then reissued. While paperback copies are available used from Amazon.com and other sources, Belgrave House offers an electronic version here that is very competitively priced (once you consider the costs of shipping).

The story is focused on one of three schoolgirls, Emma Berryman, but it is really the story of all three schoolgirls who appear in the first chapter. The first gets married early on, and throughout the book, we learn how she comes to terms with her marriage and wins her husband's affections, despite having been married to him for a wager. The second schoolgirl is the highest ranked, but she gets married relatively late in the book. The marriage of Emma, the third, takes place late in the book, and at one point, she might be marrying the wrong man (or right man, depending on your way of thinking). Even though at least one of the marriages takes place early on, there is plenty of romantic interest in all three relationships (and a couple of secondary romances) to keep the reader involved.

If you like character-driven romances, The Loving Seasons is highly recommended. Also recommended are The Nomad Harp, The Aim of a Lady, and The Seventh Suitor (the last two having considerably more humor).